Make Easy Cast Iron Skillet Desserts With This Shortcut Ingredient

Cobblers, slumps, and high-rise Dutch babies made in a cast iron skillet are cozy and comforting. However, as rustic as these rough and ready desserts may look at first glance, they do require a fair amount of prep work, such as preparing biscuit dough or chopping mounds of fresh fruit. One way to make easy cast iron skillet desserts that are ready in a fraction of the time is to use pancake mix as your base. This awesome shortcut simply needs a bit of water, and then it can be poured straight into a hot skillet along with a few extras to create an array of desserts at rapid speed.

Pancake mix contains flour, raising agents, eggs, sugar, and, in some cases, buttermilk in powdered form. All these ingredients also feature in popular desserts, such as coffee cakes and waffles (albeit in slightly different ratios), which means that a good-quality pancake mix can be used to make much more than breakfast — with a little tweaking. The most hassle-free option is to combine chocolate chips or fresh fruit into your pancake mix, pour it into your cast iron skillet, and bake everything at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes to produce a family-sized pancake that you can slice up like a pizza or scoop out with a spoon. Top each portion with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and you'll have a decadent dessert on your hands that took less than five minutes to cobble together.

While pancake mix is ready to use straight from the packet, you can elevate the richness of your skillet desserts by subbing the water for milk, buttermilk, or even Greek yogurt and ricotta. The acidity in these dairy products makes the crumb of the pancakes particularly tender and lends them a richer flavor. You can also add melted butter or extra eggs to boost the decadent quality of your dessert, fold through whipped egg whites for a fluffier lift, or pour in an aromatic, such as vanilla extract or alcohol. Similarly, malted milk powder makes an awesome fragrant addition to pancake mix too.

For texture, scatter a fine layer of crumb topping, such as a streusel, over the top of your skillet pudding to create a more interesting bite. Warming spices, like cinnamon and cardamom, can also change the vibe of a simple pancake mix and take it into cozy dessert territory — whereas a fine dusting of confectioner's sugar will produce a fancier finish. Cast iron is perfect for any version of these desserts because it holds heat well, encouraging a lofty rise, and is both oven- and stovetop-friendly.

Other unexpected ways to use store-bought pancake mix are to use it to make a dessert pizza or to mix it up with less water to turn it into the dough for cinnamon buns (simply place the filled buns in your skillet, leaving space around each one for expansion, and bake).